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Trolls
There is no one race of trolls in Azeroth. In the Eastern Kingdoms, the dwindling Amani Empire resides in the north, while the Gurubashi Tribe's great city of Zul'Gurub lies in the Stranglethorn Vale to the south. In Kalimdor, the Sandfury Tribe's blood-stained sandstone city of Zul'Farrak looms in the southern desert of Tanaris, while the Zandalari Empire rules and scouts Azeroth from their home island in the Great Sea. The remnants of the once terrifying Troll Empires, though separated and dwindling in power, continue to exist as very powerful threats to any outsiders who stray too close to their limited territories. Characteristics Often very tall, with males at least as tall as seven feet and females close behind at at least six feet, Trolls of all kinds are naturally built lean and strong, fit for shifting through jungles and trees and, for the Sandfury, slipping through sandstorms and sand dunes. Trolls are natural humanoids, though they have only two fingers and a thumb per hand, and similarly, two toes per foot, along with long, pointed ears much akin to those of the Night Elves. Most notable of Trolls are their tusks, ranging from some inches to even greater than a foot, as well as their bright, colorful hair and eye colors that range the full spectrum of colors. 'Racial Aspect : 'of Survivors - Trolls have long had bizarre, but amazing regenerative properties to their blood. When injured, trolls are able to slowly mend their own wounds without the aid of herbal remedies or healing spells over time. Some trolls, when helped by powerful healing magic, are even able to regenerate lost limbs or body parts. Amani Empire Over 10,000 years ago, following the Sundering that divided the continent of Azeroth into four separate landmasses, the Amani Empire was among those whose lands drifted east across the Great Sea and would eventually become the Eastern Kingdoms. Though shaken and disturbed by the Sundering and even more wary of magic because of it and the Elves that had caused it, the Amani Empire alone remained strong and dominant in their new location. Still possessing their strong army and powerful voodoo, along with the blessings of their Loa, the Amani Empire quickly resecured their position over the surrounding other tribes. Nearly 3,000 years ago, however, the Amani Empire was shattered during their attempts to cull the migrated High Elves of Quel'thalas along the northern shores. The High Elves allyed themselves with the human tribes to the southwest and, with their powerful magical flames, managed to break the Amani offensive and brutally wipe out huge numbers of the trolls' forces. Weakened and beaten, the Amani retreated to their forests and great city of Zul'Aman to treat their wounds and bide their time. Despite continuously engaging in skirmishes with both the High Elves and the Humans, the Amani never regained the power they held in the past. Gurubashi Empire When the Sundering shattered the continent of Azeroth and split the lands across the world, the Gurubashi Empire to the south remained relatively untouched physically. However, the great damage done to the land and the disappearance of the Aqir from their borders left the Gurubashi restless and desperate to extend their control across the land. Eventually, the Gurubashi Empire grew desperate enough to beg aid from even the darkest of Loa, pleas that Hakkar the Soulflayer, a blood-thirsty and cruel Loa, answered with glee. The southern jungles of Kalimdor quickly became drenched in blood and terror and sacrifice as the Gurubashi Empire's Blood God grew stronger and granted the Trolls more power. Hakkar's bloodlust eventually became too great a price for the Gurubashi Empire to withstand, however, and upon the Soulflayer's demand for an unprecedented amount of sacrifices in order to summon Hakkar into their mortal realm, all save the most fanatically loyal to Hakkar moved to act. With only the Atal'ai, the most fervently fanatic, to defend his avatar, Hakkar the Soulflayer's forces were devastated and the dark Loa was banished from the Gurubashi Empire and the mortal realm entirely. The few survivors of the Atal'ai escaped to the northwest, leaving their jungle homes in the Stranglethorn Vale in favor of raising a dark temple to the Soulflayer in the deadly swamps, hidden away from their furious ex-allies. With Hakkar's influence dismissed, however, the Gurubashi Empire quickly grew lethargic and weakened. The main power, the Gurubashi Tribe, paid no mind when off-shoots such as the Darkspear Tribe, the Skullsplitter Tribe, and the Bloodscalp Tribe, broke free from their control and established their own territories. Instead, the Gurubashi Tribe withdrew on themselves to their city of Zul'Gurub and established a stance of heavy, almost passively murderous isolationism, killing any who travelled too close to their lands, but otherwise taking no actions towards the outside world. Sandfury Empire The Sundering shattered the world, dividing the once-single continent into many and dividing the vast Troll Empires just as much. The Sandfury were once the vanguard of the Gurubashi Empire against their Aqir enemies, the most blooded and battle-furied warriors with the most experience in warring with the insectoid Aqir. Through weakened and stranded away from the bulk of their empire, and still faced with the southern Aqir armies, the Gurubashi survivors renamed themselves the Sandfury and quickly set to fortifying their position against their long-hated enemies. While their own vanguard pressed the line to push the fleeing Aqir down into the massive crater formed in the west, the majority of the Sandury forces surged across the eastern desert and claimed the sands as their own territory once more. The caves far to the east, along the coast, reeked of a powerful and dangerous magic, and at the heed of the few witch doctors and shamans they still had, the Sandfury left the southeastern territories to the cave dwellers and began to rebuild. The desert of Tanaris quickly became the domain of the Sandury, who established two great city-fortresses to cement their standing. The great City of Sacrifice, Zul'Farrak, was built to the northwest, overlooking the vast cliffs dividing the desert from the lush jungles of the crater to the west, while the great City of Power, Zul'Zarrok, created a central base of power for the Sandfury in the middle of the Tanaris Desert, allowing them to extend their forces of might and voodoo wherever it was called for. For millennia, the Sandfury Empire stood strong, repelling the vicious Centaur forces by using the terrain of the Thousand Needles against them and vigilantly hunting down traces of the hiding Aqir. When the request from the Night Elves for assistance against the newly arisen Qiraji came, the Sandfury initially hesitated, sending their own sandstalkers into the desert to investigate, but when their scouts returned with the dread news of underground qiraji tunnels and bases, the Sandfury threw their full agreement into the alliance with the Night Elves. The Sandfury exploded into action, rallying their forces and joining in the War of the Shifting Sands to its bitter, vicious end. Zandalari Empire The Zandalari tribe were the very first Trolls, the ones who discovered the existence and reverence of the Loa, united together under their Loa's command and began to expand the domain of the Trolls despite the rampaging Aqir surrounding them. For generations, the Zandalari Empire grew and expanded outward from their territory in the heart of the continent, until there reached a divide between the Zandalari castes. Two castes of jungle Trolls in the north and south desired to continue conquering the lands around them and boosting the Zandalari Empire's power further while the remaining Zandalari were content with peacefully studying magic from the Loa and the world around them. Eventually, the two castes broke free from the Zandalari, with their former empire's blessing, to form the Amani Empire in the north and the Gurubashi Empire in the south. While the Amani and Gurubashi brothers waged war against the Aqir for generations, the Zandalari continued their studies into improving life for all Trolls through magic, alchemy and the recording of their sister-Empires' histories. Though the Zandalari possessed great power and blessings from the Loa that were unparalleled, they had happily accepted a role more similar to a caste of priests and record-keepers for all the trolls races and empires, rather than push for any sovereign or rule. In exchange, the Amani and Gurubashi Empires were more than glad to protect the Zandalari from the Aqir armies around them and routinely sent their own historians and hex-masters to add to the Zandalari cache of knowledge. When a lone off-shoot of Dark Trolls claimed territory close to the mystical, disturbing lake in the center of the Zandalari Empire, the Zandalari paid little mind. Their passivity would come back to haunt them, however, as years later, those very same Dark Trolls had been transformed into more lithe and shadowy creatures that called themselves Kaldorei. These Kaldorei swiftly smashed Zandalari holdings with the magic they had learned from the lake's master, and by doing so, they carved themselves a small kingdom from the heart of the Zandalari Empire. Shocked, beaten and a little curious about the new tribe's magic, the Zandalari did not attack the Kaldorei again, instead choosing to passively study the new kingdom from afar. Unfortunately, the Zandalari's lack of aggression would once again come back to haunt them; thousands of years later, the Kaldorei's practice of their magic led to the Sundering, which shattered the continent and divided the Troll Empires across the world. The Zandalari, though unable to protect their neighbors, managed to erect a magical barrier of protection around the heart of their Empire, saving a huge island's worth of territory that was untouched by the magical explosion of energy from the Sundering. Though unharmed, the island of Zandalar was left stranded, alone, in the Great Sea, with the closest landfall serving as the newly-created Stranglethorn Vale several weeks' worth of sailing away. The Zandalari would later come to the aid of the Gurubashi in banishing the Blood God, Hakkar the Soulflayer, but would otherwise remain peaceful on the island of Zandalar, accepting envoys from the spread out Troll Empires and continuing their role as the priest and historian caste for all Trolls. Darkspear Tribe Following the Sundering, the Gurubashi Empire rebuilt itself with the dark, violent assistance of Hakkar the Soulflayer, the cruel Loa that the Gurubashi sacrificed thousands of thousands to. The Soulflayer was eventually banished by the Gurubashi and the Zandalari, sending the few survivors of those most fanatically loyal to the Blood God, the Atal'ai, into hiding in the Swamp of Sorrow. Afterwards, however, the Gurubashi Empire never truly recovered, instead becoming increasingly lethargic and lax in regards to maintaining its territory. From this permissive attitude, three tribes emerged independant from the Gurubashi Empire; the Skullsplitters, the Bloodscalp, and the Darkspear. Of these, the Darkspear were the lowest in numbers, and as a result of the vicious battles between the Skullsplitter and the Bloodscalp, were forced to constantly move further out of the Stranglethorn Vale to the Broken Isles in the sea to the west. For generations, the Darkspear struggled to survive on the Broken Isles amidst pirates, naga and murlocs ceaselessly attacking them. Their fate seemed almost sealed when a Kul Tiras settlement arrived on their islands, determined to wipe them out, until the timely arrival of the Orcs from the sea. Landed by a storm, the Orcs agreed to aid the Darkspear in their plight against the Humans and the murlocs, the two forces fighting together to rescue their captured until the Sea Witch, a dark Loa of the sea, arrived. Sen'jin, leader of the Darkspear Trolls, sacrificed his life for the remaining Darkspear and Thrall's Orcs to escape the Broken Isles with their lives, and though the Sea Witch retalliated with a vicious sea storm that crashed the Orcs and Trolls' ships across the shores of Kalimdor, the Darkspear survived. Led by Vol'jin, son of Sen'jin, the Darkspear continued their alliance with Thrall and the Orcs, immediately dominating and settling a group of islands south of Durotar, which they named the Echo Isles and their new home. Together with the Orcs, the Darkspear allied with the Tauren against the Centaurs, and later reluctantly worked together with Jaina Proudmoore's settlement of Theramore against the numerous forces set against them. When the time came to fight against Archimonde and the Burning Legion, the Darkspear were shocked to see that Thrall and Jaina's temporary alliance with the Night Elves to the north also summoned a great army of Sandfury Trolls from south of the Barrens. United, however, the tentative Alliance of Kalimdor won the day against Archimonde and the Burning Legion, saving Azeroth as well as the Darkspears' new home from annihilation.